In 1894, Lu Rongting was co-opted (zhao'an) into the army of Guangxi's Provincial military commander (广西提督) Su Yuanchun (苏元春) and received a Guandai (管带).

In the fall of 1904 Viceroy of Liangguang Cen Chunxuan appointed him commander of the 4000-man Guangxi Border Guards (Rongziying 荣字营) unit.

Soon afterwards Cai E and Tang Jiyao (Yunnan Clique) started the National Protection War and Lu joined them against Yuan's monarchial ambitions (Hongxian emperor).

Some scholars have suggested the reason for Lu's sudden change in allegiance was due to his discontent about Yuan's preferential treatment, which prevented him from expanding his influence into Guangdong.

With the death of Yuan Shikai in June, Lu and Li Liejun attacked Long and forced him to retreat to Hainan.

However, schisms within the movement appeared, with Sun opposing Lu's (Old Guangxi Clique) nuanced stance against the Zhili Clique-led government in Beijing.

However, due to defections within his own army and the loss of the strategic city of Chongzuo in September, Lu declared his decision to step down from the governorship in Nanning, and he subsequently fled to Shanghai.

Due to the polarization of relations between Chen Jiongming and Sun Yat-sen, Lu was re-appointed to become governor of Guangxi province in 1923 by the Beiyang government.

However, he was unable to fully recover his influence over the province due to the formation of the New Guangxi Clique led by Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi.

Within Southern China three forces emerged, the most powerful led by the coalition of Lu and followed by Shen Hongying and the New Guangxi Clique.